Days Gone Bye
by FloodFeSTeR
Summary: We all get addicted to something that takes away the pain. Loki thought bourbon was the answer. Then, on New Year's Eve, in a little bar in the middle of a broken city, he meets a young woman with bright hair and a glass of milk that makes him rethink...everything. - sort of a set of drabbles, but not really - Loki/OC obviously - perhaps dark themes? but again, not really -
1. Chapter 1

_A request for the lovely Goblin Girl's Cast Members._

_Multiple parts, showing each day Loki and the OC see each other. Not real long, perhaps ten chapters at the most. I couldn't help myself._

_Loki/OC obviously, hope it's good!_

* * *

She has a soft spot for kids and she carries a gun.

He met her on New Years, in a bar he didn't want to be at in the middle of a bad neighborhood.

Sitting in a corner near the back, hidden by shadows, he thumped a shot glass on the top of the table, flipping it over gently under skilled fingers. His free arm was propped up on the cushion of the booth, his eyes watching the swaying light above the bar reflected in the glass he was toying with. Patience. He needed patience, but patience was never something Loki was very good with.

He lifted his eyes under his brow, watching that door creak open. It wasn't who he was expecting, but he was still curious. She was tall, slender, and had a head of fiery red hair. She smiled gently and waved at the bartender, who smiled and gave her a small nod. She clasped her hands in front of herself, the cuffs of her size-too-big jacket covering her knuckles. Her eyes fluttered around the room, looking for something and, after a few moments, she seemed disappointed. So she fluttered to the bar, ordered a glass of milk – odd – and began to nurse that while the bartender attempted small talk. She smiled, not truly listening, and Loki inched closer, intrigued by dialogue.

"Didn't show up again?"

"Nope," she ran her finger around the edge of her glass. "But, there's always tomorrow."

The bartender tsked. "Don' know why ya wanna give him another chance. Third time he's abandoned ya."

"Yeah, but he's the only guy interested in me."

"Aw, I like ya."

She laughed, and it turned a few heads in the bar, not like there were really many to turn, and Loki raised an eyebrow, sliding from his booth. His boots connected soundlessly against the concrete floor, his coat giving a soft shuffle to his presence and he perched on a barstool two down from her, not far but enough for space. She looked at him sideways and smiled, taking a sip from her drink while he placed the shot glass on the counter. The bartender slid over, raising his eyebrows worn with the tire of having to work a night shift.

"Bourdon," Loki muttered, still watching her.

She was watching him, though more discretely than him, but he could tell she was interested. Maybe even more so than he was. As he took his shot, he immediately went for another and the bartender's eyes flickered to the strange girl in baggy clothing. It didn't make her look malnourished, it just made her look sort of carefree. She didn't truly care what she looked like, but she put up enough effort to do her hair and makeup. She was pretty, but not painstakingly gorgeous. More than enough to catch his eye.

"Whatcha want, stranger," she looked to him fully, a smile on her lips.

It wasn't forced, it was genuinely kind.

Loki smiled gently, though it was one of his more permanent smirks. "Simply curious as to why a lovely young woman such as yourself is alone tonight."

"Kind of creepy," she muttered, her smile widening. "Can't say I don't like it."

"She's never been picked up at a bar before," the bartender chuckled. "Go easy on her."

Loki ignored the man, eyes lingering on her hands. They were long and spindly, calluses forming on the sides of her thumbs and middle finger. He wondered what had caused such distinct marks and she noticed, her fingers curling back into her sleeves. She reached for her glass, took a sip and they both looked to the television strung up behind the bar. The countdown, they were on eight. She looked over at him, smiled, and scooted towards him, easily gliding to the next booth.

"You alone on New Years?"

"New Years," he tasted the words on his tongue. He had no concept of it.

"Yeah, never heard of New Years?"

"Where I come from," he took a shot, the countdown was on three. "We do not celebrate a years ending."

"But it's a new beginning," she looked to the television, her eyes reflecting the sparks of fireworks and streamers from the television. "On New Years, everyone gets a second chance."

He pondered that for a moment, something hitting home in his chest and then he was brought back down by a pressure on his cheeks. He blinked, eyes wide through a haze of a bourbon buzz, and he watched her settled back into her stool, milk staining his right cheek. She took a sip of her drink, cheeks slightly pink and she smiled at him sheepishly.

"New Years kiss," she cleared her throat a little. "Its good luck for the new year."

"A kiss is supposed to bring good luck?"

He couldn't admit he didn't like it.

She nodded once. "Yeah, seems you don't know anything about this country at all."

She laughed again, and Loki just stared at her. She threw her head back slightly, lips gliding over her strangely milky teeth and her eyes crinkled in the corner. She was boisterous. Loud. Some might say obnoxious, if Loki hadn't been buzzed at the moment, he would claim her just as annoying as Thor. But, instead of that, he leaned forward, kissed her own cheek and drew a thick silence from her as her cheeks turned a bright shade of crimson. He smirked slightly, leaning back onto his stool and he ordered another shot of bourbon.


	2. Chapter 2

He met her again in a back alley, he skimming through a satchel left behind for him while she seemed to be…skulking about.

She leaned heavily against the grimed brick wall, her heart beat causing her chest to be visibly thumping. Loki raised an eyebrow, eyes lingering on the flash of something bright peeking out of the hem of her jeans. A gun? Why would she need such a thing? She swallowed thickly, still ignorant to his presence, and he smiled slyly at the opportunity. It was stupid, to be doing such a thing, but he had to say something to her.

And she was a prime target for the trickster God.

His eyes blurred, energy focusing on an object behind him and a perfect copy of himself slinked out from behind him, grinning it's way too her. She had twisted to the side, peering through the alleyway to something and his copy placed long fingers on her shoulder. Her eyes shot wide and her right hand went down before he could notice, pulling that gun from her jeans and she fired one bullet into his skull. Her lip trembled as she watched the image disperse into lights. Loki cursed and took three large steps forward, taking her by her upper arm as he heard shrill screams coming from down the alley.

Her lips parted, wanting to linger on a name she still didn't know, but he began dragging her before she could speak. She didn't protest as he took her along, she just tried to keep up with his swift stride, her legs struggling to keep up.

When he deemed them safe to pause, he let her go and turned to her, face placid. "You are a ridiculous girl."

"What the hell was that?"

He raised an eyebrow as she slapped a hand over her mouth, listening to her scold herself about cursing and then he sighed, rolling his head on his shoulders. "An illusion I was foolish to put up."

He shouldn't have done that, it was truly foolish as he said. But, he hadn't been able to help himself. His new life without mischief was causing him some hunger pains he was desperately needing to quell. And she had seemed like the perfect target, he just hadn't thought of her actually pulling a gun on the image he had cast. He paused in his mental ranting to peer down at her, reaching out to her right hand.

She watched with curious eyes as he took the gun from her hand, dropping it to the ground before he swept his slender fingers over the calluses on her hands. "I was wondering where these came from," he dropped her hand, humming in self achievement. "Now I have figured it out, what agency do you work for?"

She blinked at him slowly, wondering if she should reach for her gun. She remembered him, faintly, from two months back, a New Years moment in a bar that had burned down. She had ordered milk, as usual, and he had been taking shots of bourbon in strange clothes. She had kissed his cheek, he had kissed hers and then, not ten minutes later, they parted ways. She had wondered for awhile where he had gone off to, but he had quickly shifted from first priority to last. But, just because she had met him didn't mean she could trust him. She had just seen what she wanted to call magic, and she was kind of freaked out.

"Um," she tucked a strand of hair behind her left ear. "I'm an informant. For whom, is none of your concern."

"Ah," he smiled a little. "Proper English, how I have missed it."

She raised her own eyebrow at this and then smiled. "Your cute," her face drew a blank, as did his, but his cheeks were slightly pink and hers were fresh crimson. "Oh _God _did I just say that?"

He watched her hands flutter in front of herself for a moment and then chuckled, making her pause. "You are truly an interesting young woman."

She smiled tenderly. "My name is Jess, please call me Jay though."

He paused, wandering if it was safe. "Loki," he muttered. "My name is Loki."


	3. Chapter 3

_Lyrics belong to the Eagles:) I was listening to it and had to add it in there._

* * *

_**Somebody's gonna hurt someone  
Before the night is through  
Somebody's gonna come undone  
Nothin we can do**_

* * *

"How come I keep finding you in bars?"

He looked up at her from the corner of his eye and smiled a little, taking his glass with the tips of his fingers and swirling the ice. "I could ask you the same thing."

She smiled and perched on the stool beside him, flagging down a pretty blonde waitress. "I come here every once in awhile," she ordered a glass of milk, just as she had the last time they met in a bar. "How come you've been avoiding me?"

"Avoiding you," he hummed, mulling her words over. "How have I been avoiding you?"

She nodded to the bartender and then waved her off, taking a slow sip of her milk. "Haven't seen you in weeks," as she set her milk down, she took to circling the rim with her finger. "Since I saw what you can do, I've been looking for you."

Her voice was a pained whisper and caused Loki to look up again. "Why is that?"

She smiled at him. "I don't know," she shrugged. "Maybe I just wanted to see you again," she cringed. "Did that sound creepy?"

He nodded, scratching at his chin. "Impossibly so," he smiled at her. "But, I have to admit," the bourbon was seeped through him to the bone, he could speak his mind. "I have searched for you as well."

Her cheeks flushed. "R-Really," she cleared her throat and grumbled. "I mean, really?"

Loki chuckled as she tried to change her disposition. She was a mixture of things, he couldn't admit he didn't like it. He took another sip of his drink and leaned towards herslightly. "Oh yes," he hummed a little. "But, let's not talk business right now."

Jay smiled. "Good," she closed her eyes a little. "I like this song anyway."

"A song about heartache," he shook his head slightly. "You mortals fascinate me sometimes."

She paused in her praise of the song and cocked her head at him. "You just called me a human…"

He bit his tongue harshly. "That I did," he muttered.

She swallowed around a lump in her throat. "What are you?"

He looked to her, almost giving in to her question, but he just waved a hand at her. "I believe it best if you not know."

As his hand lay flat on the counter, she slammed hers over it. He stared at her in slight shock, seeing her jaw set and her eyes firm. She wouldn't let this go. He raised a slow eyebrow and pulled his hand out from under hers, taking his glass in his hand. He watched her from the corner of his eye as he took a long, painfully slow, sip from his drink. He gauged her reaction. She didn't give much of one, but he could see the impatience in her face and wanted to laugh.

As he set the glass down, he smiled. "Would you like to see what I am?"

* * *

_**Somebody's gonna hurt someone  
Before the night is through**_

* * *

She smiled, tilting her head slightly to the right. "If you're willing to show…"

He took a small sip of his drink, the very last drop, and when he looked back to her, his eyes were a brilliant show of red. "Are you sure?"

She hesitated, her heart skipping a beat. Her throat was dry, her lips were chapped and her hands were shaking. What the hell was going on? His irises swirled for a moment, like hot lava, and she felt something else move in her. She shook her head stiffly, sliding down from the bar stool.

"Come on," she whispered, scared but something else.

* * *

_**Everybody wants' to take a little chance  
Make it come out right**_

* * *

"Where are you taking me," he murmured against the back of her throat, edging her further.

She swallowed again, turning and finding they were alone in a faintly lit section of the city. Her fingers dropped his and she found his eyes again, which were still that brilliant lava. Oh my, was this how being a damsel in distress felt? When she found her prince? She wondered…

"What are you," she asked for the second time that night, the twentieth in her head, in her pondering.

Her eyes faintly trailed across his throat, which was fading towards blue, strangely curved patterns coming across his exposed collar bone. When she looked back to his face, the same patterns were across his cheeks and forehead. Her lips parted and trembled, her fingers itching to touch his face. Was he rough or smooth? Going by color alone, she knew he was cold.

"Jotun," his voice was deep and accented thickly.

It wasn't an accent she had heard before, it wasn't all that pleasing to the ears. It made her almost fear for her life.

"Is this really you," she whispered. "Or another illusion?"

His face lost its smirk and grew stoic. "No illusion," he shook his head. "And this is my natural state, the pale skin you have grown accustomed to is but an illusion at this point."

There was something he wasn't telling her.

But she wasn't a bitch.

She wasn't overly nosey, though her job demanded it.

She didn't want to upset him, make him become aggravated with her, drive him away.

She wanted him to stay close, she wanted him to stay by her side.

"You're not gonna run off now, are you," she whispered.

"I was thinking about it."

Her eyes held a sad desperation. "And I was gonna lose my memories, right?"

"Possibly."

"Why?"

"Because I cannot risk you being in harm's way, because of me."

Now, if that wasn't chivalrous, Jay didn't know what was. A smile broke out across her face and she jumped forward, taking his face in her hands and she kissed him. He was freezing. If she wasn't flushed so high, her lips would have surely stuck to his.

She wouldn't have minded having to lick them from his.

When she let him go, the blue color had drained from his skin and was now replaced by a blush that almost matched her own. His hands were held out at his sides and he wasn't linking. She picked at her nails, her whole body shaking in excitement and nervousness.

"Was it that bad," she muttered, feeling her pride slightly struck.

He shook his head slowly, coming back to reality. "Head rush," he muttered. He stared down at her for a moment until he smiled. "Would you like to come back with me?"

She stared at him oddly. "Um…where?"

"To my place?"

Was she suddenly lit on fire?

"I-I don't know about that," she stuttered painfully, ruffling her hair.

He laughed. "I do not mean for anything other than polite conversation."

"Well, why not just go back to the bar?"

"Because," he reached out for her hand. "I know you do not drink, and I am not particularly fond of the scene myself."

"Yet you're always there," she took his hand, her tummy twisting in unimaginable ways.

He was silent for a moment. "I believe I have tried to drown myself in alcohol for the past year."

She looked up at him with a strange look on her face. Drown…drown himself in alcohol? So, was he admitting he was an alcoholic?

"Why?"

He looked down at her briefly and then forward, stopping her at the streets edge. "I prefer to keep that to myself, for the time being."

There would be more time?


	4. Chapter 4

_**Sorry it took so long. Long story, but I'm back and I will finish this dammit.**_

* * *

Most days, Loki hated getting up.

Usually, when he rolled over, all he got was the wall, a pale cream that reminded him of the Void.

Once that was over, he would roll into a bottle of whiskey and piss away the small fortune granted when he went into hiding. Striking deals with mobsters was one way to get by. Of course, he had murdered aforementioned men and women to keep from being pestered.

But the whiskey, oh that sweet elixir of life that kept him half-sane and carefree. It seemed to bring him back to sanity, but ultimately dropped him back down again.

Today, however, he didn't roll into that bottle of whiskey. He didn't roll to meet that cream. He instead rolled to meet the largest pair of bright eyes he had ever seen in his life.

He was alert at first, but that small, sheepish, smile brought him back. "Jay," he muttered, rolling onto his back and rubbing his eyes with his knuckles. "Why are you here?"

"Um," she sat up as he did, her hair a mess on her head. "Y-You called me, remember?"

Right...right he called her when he was lonely. But she should know it was an honor for someone like him to call her, to call anyone. She should feel privileged.

"Do you want me to leave?"

He paused as he sat up, the blanket slumping to his waist. Why would she...or right, that was how it usually went. He would send her away when he was through. Not that she ever seemed to complain. A nights romp in pleasure was well worth the scorn, correct? Yes, she had agreed. But here she was, acting bashful and concerned.

Did she think he was using her? Did she think that was what this was? No...no he wasn't using her, but how to explain something like this?

"It's ok if you want me to."

He heard the covers shift, felt the weight on her side of the bed loosen.

"I'll just go."

Like always.

He watched her walk towards the door, dress hanging loosely from her shoulders. She had been at a dinner party for a friend, said they were getting married before he crushed her lips with his own.

Wait...

He jumped from the bed, bare feet soundless against the carpet of the shab apartment, and he caught her by her elbow with the door open. His neighbor across the hall gave them a curious look before his face twisted into horror as Loki forced his mouth against hers like he usually did.

"Young man that is completely inappropriate."

Loki glared at the elderly man, a surge of pride and...possessiveness, coming over him. "Leave, worm."

The old man tsked and did scurry away like the good little filth he was and Loki drug Jay back into his apartment, slamming the door shut and letting the mortal use it as support as he separated himself from her. The rush had left him light-headed, he needed a drink. But instead of going to the fridge, he made it as far as the couch before he collapsed onto it, staring out the large window it was facing.

What the hell was that?

After a moment of silence, Jay managed to make it to his side, a pleased smile on her face. But the high wore off as soon as it came and she was back to her confusing self, chewing on her bottom lip. She stared at his hand that was resting on his knee then looked to her own hands. They were busy picking at each other.

"When did you say Vilkas' _birthday _party was," Loki questioned, rubbing his face.

Her heart fluttered. "Uh...uh, Saturday," she peered at him quizzically. "Why?"

He breathed in deeply, making the thin fabric of his shirt stretch across his chest. "I suppose I can attend like you have begged me to do."

She stared at him with wide eyes. Where did that other Loki go? The one that was semi-cruel but also as cuddly as a teddy bear on his best day? Now he was attending parties, begging her to stay with a kiss.

Her lips twisted into a grin.

She didn't midn the quick change as much as she thought she would, but it made her worry.

About him.

About his sanity.


End file.
